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Hedingham Omnibuses
Hedingham Omnibuses is a bus company in Essex. It is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. History s in June 2009]] and Volvo Olympians in June 2010]] in June 2009]] In 1921 Aubrey Letch shortly after serving in World War I, with his parents' help, trading under his own name commenced operating a coach hire company, gradually expanding to run bus services to Braintree and Sudbury on their market days of Wednesday and Thursday respectively. In March 1935 Letch purchased the competing business of PW Finch of Castle Hedingham. This allowed Letch to take over the Monday to Saturday workers' service to Braintree. In the last 1950s, he further expanded the business with routes to Gestingthorpe, Pebmarsh and Halstead.About Hedingham Hedingham Omnibus 4 December 2004Happy Anniversary Hedingham Omnibus! Focus Transport 1 August 2010 In early 1960, Letch retired due to ill health and sold the company to Donald MacGregor, which was renamed Hedingham & District Omnibuses. Since then the company has grown by acquiring other companies, including: *Blackwells of Earls Colne (1965) *C & R Coach of Little Tey (1982) *Freemans Coaches (1997) *GW Osborne of Tollesbury (1997) *Jennings of Ashen (1984) *Kemps Coaches of Clacton-on-Sea *CJ Partridge and Sons (Claireaux) of Hadleigh, Suffolk (1994) *Wents of Boxford (1997) In March 2012 the company was sold to the Go-Ahead Group.Go-Ahead buys Hedingham Omnibuses busandcoach.com 6 March 2012 Depots Four depots are located in: *Clacton *Harwich *Kelvedon *Tollesbury Livery Hedingham Omnibuses' livery is cream with red relief, until the 1970s being blue and cream. The livery vaires between single deckers/ coaches and double deck buses, with red being the main colours on double deckers with cream relief. Recent arrivals from Brighton & Hove retained their former livery with Hedingham fleetnames. Disability incidents Hedingham Omnibuses has been criticised three times for incidents involving disabled people. In 2007 and February 2008, its drivers were criticised by Tendring Community Transport for leaving their vehicles unattended in special bus stops in Station Road and Pier Avenue in Clacton meant for services for disabled and vulnerable people, blocking designated services from using the stop. In September 2008, a disabled man was unable to board a bus as the wheelchair area was full with buggies. The mothers refused to fold their buggies to let the man on board the bus, despite the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 giving priority to wheelchair users. The bus driver refused to get involved and enforce the Act, so the disabled man had to wait half an hour for the next bus. The company responded by saying that they would put up posters from Essex County Council telling passengers to give up the wheelchair space to disabled people. Doctor Who Two former Hedingham Omnibuses (Bristol VRTs RUA 461W, HJB 455W) masqueraded as London Buses in the 2009 Doctor Who Easter special, Planet of the Dead. The original livery can be seen in the accompanying behind-the-scenes special Doctor Who Confidential: Desert Storm. See also *List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References External links *Official Hedingham Omnibuses website Category:Bus operators in Essex Category:Companies based in Essex Category:Transport in Essex Category:Transport in Suffolk Category:Transport in Chelmsford Category:Bus operators in Suffolk